Chapter 48: Naming 1/3

“Who are you?” Li Laogen saw Zhu Xunmiao and Xu Qifei.

“We are friends of Brother Li; we are here to see him,” Zhu Xunmiao said.

The lighting in Li Qingzhi’s study was mediocre, so he placed his desk near the door and opened the door to write.

Hearing the voices, Li Qingzhi looked up and saw Zhu Xunmiao and Xu Qifei.

“Brother Zhu, Brother Xu,” Li Qingzhi greeted them with a smile.

At first, Li Laogen was a bit cautious, mainly because Zhu Xunmiao and Xu Qifei looked like they were from affluent families. He didn’t think Li Qingzhi would have such friends. He even suspected that they might be from the Hong family, coming to cause trouble.

But Li Qingzhi knew these two people… Li Laogen smiled, “Ah Qing is over there, you can go over.”

Zhu Xunmiao and Xu Qifei bowed to Li Laogen and walked towards Li Qingzhi.

Li Laogen had always been looked down upon, and suddenly someone bowed to him, leaving him stunned.

After a moment, Li Laogen regained his composure and whispered to the people he was talking to, “Did you see that? The young master from the town came to find our Ah Qing! Our Ah Qing is really something now!”

The villagers in front of Li Laogen nodded repeatedly.

At this moment, Li Qingzhi said to Li Damao and Li Ermao, “Damao, Ermao, go fetch two chairs.”

Before Li Damao and Li Ermao could act, Zhao Xiaodou rushed to fetch the chairs. Seeing this, Li Qingzhi asked Li Damao and Li Ermao to bring two bowls.

They didn’t have teacups at home, but they had a large ceramic teapot placed on Li Qingzhi’s desk, filled with boiled water from earlier in the morning.

Li Qingzhi poured some lukewarm boiled water into the two bowls brought by the children. “We don’t have tea. Please forgive us.”

“It’s okay, as long as it quenches thirst,” Zhu Xunmiao said. Although he grew up in a wealthy family, he wasn’t at the point where he couldn’t drink plain water.

As for Xu Qifei, although his family’s life was still okay, he usually drank water from a bowl at home.

Zhu Xunmiao and Xu Qifei came to see Li Qingzhi, very concerned about his health. Li Qingzhi said, “I’m fine. My injury won’t take long to heal.”

“Brother Li, you mentioned before that you wanted to take the county exam next year, but now with this…” Zhu Xunmiao felt guilty. “If I had stopped them yesterday, things wouldn’t have ended up like this.”

“I’m really fine. Even if there is a problem, I can still write with my left hand in the future,” Li Qingzhi said.

“Write with your left hand?”

Li Qingzhi showed them the paper he had just finished writing: “When I started helping Uncle Zhu write letters, my handwriting was like this, wasn’t it?”

He indeed had some kind of special ability, his control over his body was far stronger than an ordinary person’s. The handwriting from his left hand was legible.

Zhu Xunmiao glanced at Li Qingzhi’s handwriting and couldn’t help asking, “Brother Li, how long do you think it will take you to write with your left hand?”

“Perhaps two months,” Li Qingzhi smiled.

Zhu Xunmiao: “…” Li Qingzhi was too amazing; he couldn’t even muster jealousy towards him!

Since Zhu Xunmiao and Xu Qifei were here, Li Qingzhi had a good chat with them and even asked them to find some articles written by others for him to read.

Using his special ability, he had developed his brain, not only having the ability to remember everything but also possessing strong analytical skills.

While they were chatting, Jin Xiaoye managed to come back and bring with her a pig trotter stewed with soybeans that had been soaking in water since last night.

Seeing Zhu Xunmiao and Xu Qifei, Jin Xiaoye warmly invited them to stay for dinner. Zhu Xunmiao and Xu Qifei, wanting to chat more with Li Qingzhi, gladly agreed.

Jin Xiaoye stewed the pig trotter with the soybeans she had soaked the previous night and finally brought out a big pot. She also served steamed egg custard and steamed cabbage soup. Although it was not lavish, it was enough to eat.

However, Li Laogen, who used to be particularly enthusiastic about meals, upon learning that Zhu Xunmiao was the young master of the Zhu family, absolutely dared not come to the table to eat.

Jin Xiaoye simply left some of the food aside for him and let him eat with the three children in the kitchen. As for herself, she quickly packed some food in a clay pot and hurriedly left.

She still had a lot to do.

While Zhu Xunmiao and the others were having lunch at Li’s house, Zhu Qian invited the magistrate of Gou County out for a meal, asking him to dine at the biggest restaurant in the county town.

The magistrate of Gou County loved money, and he was very willing to associate with wealthy merchants from Chongcheng County.

In fact, when he was young, the magistrate was more focused on his career aspirations, eager to make a mark in the officialdom. However, he only passed the imperial examination in middle age, destined not to have much advancement in his career. Thus, he had relaxed his ambitions and only hoped not to make any mistakes in his official duties.

Zhu Qian and the magistrate both wanted to foster a good relationship with each other. As they chatted, they became more and more congenial. Inevitably, they talked about the case from yesterday.

The magistrate praised Zhu Xunmiao.

He genuinely thought highly of Zhu Xunmiao. People who stood up for the weak and oppressed were always likable in his eyes. He felt more reassured in his relationship with Zhu Qian after seeing Zhu Xunmiao’s actions.

Zhu Qian also had to praise the magistrate’s children. After the compliments, he added, “Sir, that scholar who lost his arm yesterday greatly admires you. He wants to write an article for you. It’s said that he has already started writing.”

“Sincere intentions are good, but since he’s injured, it’s best to focus on recovery,” the county magistrate sighed as he thought of the skinny scholar.

He had always felt his body was a bit bulky with too much flesh, but after seeing that scholar, he thought having more flesh wasn’t a bad thing.

Regardless, with so much flesh to protect him, a child under ten wouldn’t be able to break his arm.

As for Zhu Qian mentioning that Li Qingzhi wanted to write an article for him… Ever since he came to Chongcheng County, scholars had written articles for him before, but he found them rather uninteresting.

These scholars couldn’t write enduring masterpieces, which couldn’t bring him fame.

Zhu Qian didn’t mention much about Li Qingzhi’s situation, nor did he show the magistrate his autobiography.

He didn’t know what kind of article Li Qingzhi would write about the magistrate’s judgment. In this case, it was better not to raise the magistrate’s expectations too high.

But Zhu Qian did inquire about the magistrate’s past experiences in judging cases, and since the magistrate loved to talk about them, Zhu Qian took careful note of what he said, intending to relay it to Li Qingzhi later.

The two of them lingered over their meal for quite some time.

During the meal, Zhu Qian didn’t give the magistrate any gifts, but he arranged for a boat and personally sent the magistrate back.

When they reached near the magistrate’s residence, as the magistrate got off the boat, Zhu Qian handed him a very plain-looking bamboo basket. “Sir, I’ve prepared some snacks for you. Please enjoy.”

Indeed, there were snacks in the basket, but they were placed in boxes made of pure gold.